Colours

Colour is a key element of the National Health Service's identity. Research shows that patients and the public strongly associate the NHS with the colours blue and white.

Downloading colours directly into Tableau

Having the NHS England default colours for charts can save time and this can be achieved by having the colour palette installed in 'My Tableau Repository' on your system:

Download .tps file

Download the Preferences.tps file by clicking here

Download this custom "Preferences.tps"
Replace your "Preferences.tps" file in your 'My Tableau Repository' which can be found by clicking File > Repository Location
A number of NHS England specific colour palettes should now appear when using a discrete dimension (e.g regions)

NHS blue and white

87% of people spontaneously recall these two colours - white and NHS blue - when asked about the NHS identity. Therefore, NHS blue and white are the dominant colours in our colour palette. They also ensure that communications maximise the strong value of the NHS identity and the positive attributes that patients, the public and stakeholders attach to it.

NHS Blue

RGB: 0 / 94 / 184

#005EB8

NHS White

RGB: 255 / 255 / 255

#FFFFFF

You can use other NHS blues to support the main NHS Blue and add tonal variety / emphasis. Use NHS neutral black and grey for type (NHS Blue can also be used). For more information, see the NHS Identity Guidelines - Colours.

NHS regions

Use these colours in boundary maps, or sparingly in charts where it would be useful for identifying the separate regions.

North East

NHS Blue

#005EB8

North West

NHS Light Blue

#41B6E6

East of England

NHS Purple

#330072

Midlands

NHS Pink

#AE2573

London

NHS Light Green

#78BE20

South West

NHS Yellow

#FAE100

South East

NHS Orange

#ED8B00

NHS ambulance

Use these colours in maps, or sparingly in charts, wherever it would be useful to identify ambulance trusts.

North East

NHS Dark Blue

#003087

Yorkshire

NHS Blue

#005EB8

North West

NHS Light Blue

#41B6E6

East of England

NHS Purple

#330072

East Midlands

NHS Light Purple

#880FB8

West Midlands

NHS Pink

#AE2573

London

NHS Light Green

#78BE20

South Western

#ECE354

South Central

#EE9F00

South East

#ED4F00

Chart colours

We recommend to stick to no more than five different variables on a graph. Otherwise your visualisation will be confusing. If you need to plot more than 5 variables, you should consider alternative ways to visualise this information.

For any reasons, if we have to use more than five colours in a visualisation (to show multiple values on the same graph where no measure is more important than another e.g. plotting A&E attendances at different hospitals over time) then use the colours listed below.

Note: This colour palette is not applicable if you are visualising Regional or Ambulance data. Click the hyperlinks to view their colour set.

One colour chart

#005EB8

Two colour chart

#41B6E6

Three colour chart

#4C6272

Four colour chart

#FFB81C

Five colour chart

#AE2573

Six colour chart

#00A499

Seven colour chart

#E317AA

Eight colour chart

#007F3B

Nine colour chart

#9A6324

Ten colour chart

#78BE20

Eleven colour chart

#ED4F00

Twelve colour chart

#880FB8

RAG colours

National Targets (Red - Green)

Purpose: Red - Green should be used when the viz shows whether a national target has been met or not met

Example: A&E performance, Cancer performance

#DA291C

#006747

Local Targets (Red - Amber - Green)

Purpose: Red - Amber - Green should be used when the viz shows whether a local target is on track to be met or not met.

Green indicates that a target is on track to be met. Amber indicates that performance needs improvement. Red indicates that a target is not going to be met and intervention is required.

Example: Digital & Interoperable Medicines

#DA291C

#ED8B00

#006747

Divergence

Purpose: Divergence should be used when there is a wide range of good, bad and neutral areas to be shown and a clear central value (e.g. 0). We can only define the far end colours (e.g. dark red, dark blue) but not the neutral colour in Tableau, it will be selected dynamically.

Example: Map showing of product uptake across England, Difference of year on year comparison

#DA291C

#DFDFDF

#005EB8

Colour tints for measures

Important factors need to be considered when using tints:

100% solid NHS blue #005EB8 should always be the dominant colour over any tints
Tints should never obscure the legibility or accessibility of any communication
The colour emphasis should always be adhered to when using tints

Continuous scale

For darker and lighter colour values, the in-between colours will be inferred by Tableau automatically. e.g. Continuous scale: 1, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 etc

#005EB8

#4C6272

#FFB81C

#AE2573

#00A499

#B3CFEA

#D1D6D9

#F5E7C8

#E5C9D9

#C2E3E1

Discrete scale

The top bar in each case shows the solid (100%) value of the colour and the bars below show decreasing values from 80% to 20%. It is acceptable to use tints of the colours. Any % value is accepted as long as it is visible, clear and accessible. e.g. Discrete scale: 10, 6, 5, 2 etc

#005EB8

#4C6272

#FFB81C

#AE2573

#00A499

#B3CFEA

#D1D6D9

#F5E7C8

#E5C9D9

#C2E3E1

Charts with multiple measures

Below are the set of gradients which should be used if the value of the measure needs to be displayed on the intensity of the colour.

If multiple measures need to be displayed in the visualisation, use the listed colour options below:

Chart with one measure

#005EB8

#B3CFEA

Chart with two measures

#005EB8

#B3CFEA

#4C6272

#D1D6D9

Chart with three measures

#005EB8

#B3CFEA

#4C6272

#D1D6D9

#FFB81C

#F5E7C8

Chart with four measures

#005EB8

#B3CFEA

#4C6272

#D1D6D9

#FFB81C

#F5E7C8

#AE2573

#E5C9D9

Chart with five measures

#005EB8

#B3CFEA

#4C6272

#D1D6D9

#FFB81C

#F5E7C8

#AE2573

#E5C9D9

#00A499

#C2E3E1

Last update: November 5, 2024